Turkeys are Forever: Wild Turkey Diamond Anniversary

This bottle of Wild Turkey commemorates Jimmy Russell's sixty years at the distillery.  It's a blend of 13 to 16 year old bourbons.  Right now it's only at the distillery visitor center, but it will be distributed nationally later this summer, and it sounds like there will be plenty of it available.


Wild Turkey Diamond Anniversary, 45.5% abv ($125)

I usually don't comment on the color of whiskey, but the color on this one is quite light which is unusual for a bourbon in this age bracket.  The nose is nice and very Wild Turkey; it's got sweet candy and a good dose of oak. The palate opens with light candy and then some spice.  It's hot for the abv, which is typical of more recent Wild Turkeys. The finish is where the oak comes back with a burnt wood/barrel char note.

This is decent bourbon, but not anything I would pay a premium for.  It's fine to drink but doesn't have much in the way of complexity; it's very typical of recent Wild Turkeys (which are a far cry from the great stuff they used to put out).  Tasting blind, I would have guessed that this was a good $30 to $40 bourbon.  There's no way I would pay triple digits for it, but such is the world of escalating whiskey price creep.